North Carolina governor candidate hits CNN with defamation lawsuit

The state’s Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson on Tuesday sued CNN and a former acquaintance, alleging that they defamed him. In the court filing, Robinson denied reports that he had purchased and viewed pornographic material decades ago. He also denounced the claim that he maintained active profiles on a pornographic site and a dating website.  CNN declined to comment Tuesday, spokeswoman Emily Kuhn told the Associated Press via email.

Who made these allegedly defamatory claims? A man named Louis Money earlier this year went public with claims that Robinson regularly visited an adult video store where he worked. Weeks after Money made his claims, the mainstream media outlet CNN published a story alleging Robinson posted vile rhetoric on pornographic websites and dating apps using covert accounts, Robinson’s filing said.

What does Robinson have to say? Robinson, who has stayed married to one woman for 34 years and raised two children with her, has denied any wrongdoing. According to the lawsuit, his date of birth, email address, name, and other identifying information have been leaked in data breaches since he became a public figure. Another person could access the information and build accounts designed to smear his name, his lawyers wrote.

The lawsuit said that Robinson worked at a pizza place near the adult video store and that he and Louis Money did sometimes interact. They would talk when Money came to buy pizza, and Robinson occasionally dropped off free pizza at the store, according to the lawsuit. However, Robinson didn’t purchase, rent, or preview videos there, his lawyers wrote, and he went home at the end of his shifts at the pizza place.

Dig deeper: Read Carolina Lumetta’s report in The Stew about how the national GOP has quietly withdrawn support from Robinson since the allegations have surfaced.